Monday, May 2, 2011

Gettin' it on in the dining room.....well, building a table that it is!

Yay! The table how-to was released from the technology dungeon of my computer, little celebration dance over here, be glad you can't see it ;.) haha. Now let me send out a welcome to all of you YHL readers! Feel free to look around and join our blog for a daily dose of crazy from our house to yours ;.) So many people have asked me how my husband and I made our dining room table and he gets to take all the credit! I designed it and he handy man'd it, he didn't quite look as suave as some of the HGTV carpenters when he did it, but he did an amazing job and he was humorous to watch!
So here is it, in all of its glory...the entire process, as requested by a lot of my readers out there, a guest post from the Hubs himself!

An old butcher block dining room table that I salvaged the legs from. I wanted a larger table
than the original frame, so I also rebuilt the frame using 1x3 lumber

1x2 lumber for the corner pieces cut at 45 degree angles on both ends.

¼” x 3" lag bolts with fender washers.

2” wood screws

Wood Glue

60 grit sand paper, and a sanding block

A Drill with 1/8” and ¼” drill bits.

2 sets of pipe clamps, 2 long (36”) two short (12”).

First, determine the desired length of the table.Once you know how long and wide you want the table top, cut the boards to length if needed and sand them. I picked the most beat up looking wood I could find from This place here, and lightly sanded with 60grit sand paper and the block. I only sanded the tops and exposed sides enough to be smooth to the touch (no splinters). I left as much original looking material as I could. Here is a picture of one board sanded, with un-sanded boards on either side. The difference is negligible, visually.

Once you finish sanding, you can make the frame. In this case, our boards were 7’ long and we used 9 of them, making the table roughly 32” wide.To lay out the frame, start with the two long sides. Some of our boards were warped pretty badly, but looked good and we still wanted to use them. To help straighten them out, we laid the 9 planks side by side, and clamped them at both ends of the 32” side. With the boards clamped tight, use the 1x3 pieces to make the frame outline. Make sure to place the side rails centered on the first and last board of the table. This will allow for even overhang when the table is finished, as well as provide a central mounting location for the lag bolts. After you finish mocking the frame layout, and are happy with the size, make the frame using wood glue, wood screws and the 1x2 wood pieces (for mounting the legs to) and finish assembling the frame like this:

When I made the frame the first time, I re-used stainless steel screws I recycled from an old boat project.Let me give you some advice. NEVER, EVER, RE-USEFASTENERS LIKE SCREWS AND BOLTS, at least not on a project that might EVER need to come apart. Otherwise you’ll end up looking like this, trying to get semi-stripped screws out of the holes:

Once the frame is assembled and built, stand it up. Add the 2x4 supports at 2-3 locations within the frame. Since my table already had a central 1x3, I just used that and added the 2x4s, screwing them into the side rails. Use the ¼” drill bit to drill through the 1x3 side rails. When you start bolting the planks to the frame, you will use these holes to bolt through. You want the lag bolt to slide freely through the table frame, but use the smaller drill bit to pre-drill through the planks. Make sure not to drill all the way through the planks. Since the bolt doesn’t ‘bite’ in the frame, it will pull the plank down flat as you tighten the planks. If you don’t pre drill the frame, then the lag bolt will bite in both the frame and plank, leaving a gap between the two that is very difficult to get rid of.

I used the small clamps to help clamp down the first board. On the 2nd -9th pieces, I used the small clamps to pull the planks down to the frame, and the long clamps to close the gap between thealready installed planks, and the one I was currently working on. Follow the same steps for the rest of the boards, clamping and bolting each board. Here is the process during, and the finished product.

Love this piece of dining room eye candy!

I hope this tutorial filled all of your old beat up table fantasies ;.) Until tomorrow folks!!!

32 comments:

Hey Tara I got mine from the store Trohv in baltimore/DC. They are awesome and would probably help you to order one if you wanted them too. I also found it at one time at Zgallerie but they were more expensive and I am not sure if they still have it. If you want me to see if Trohv could order/ship you one email me at ccschutz@gmail.com and I will contact the owner of the store. Thanks! I hope this helps ;.)

Hi there! Just came over from YHL and wrote them a long comment about how much I adore what you've done to your house, so I thought I'd bop over here and tell you too! What a fun, whimsical style you have and I love that everything was done on a budget. I'm feeling very inspired. Think I'll have to follow you to see what else you come up with! So glad to have found your blog:)

Thanks so much Caroline & Welcome to the good ole' blog! The table scape was super easy and cheap, it was our Easter table ;.) I give details on what I did from a few days back ;.) & Amanda Thanks so much and welcome to you too! I am so excited to meet all of you new readers ;.)

hi courtney! i am a new follower as well from YHL... and you are in baltimore!!!!! aaah! i am in severna park! would love for you to visit my blog... perhaps we could be thrifting buds? i am headed to crumpton on weds if the weather allows!

Your house is beautiful. I love that your husband made your dining room table. I have been wanting a farmers table for a long time and I am so excited to show my husband how you made yours. I also love your hutch in the dining room. Where did you find that awesome piece?? Great choice for color. Looking forward to reading more posts. Thanks Katie

Hi Katie & welcome! Thanks so much, the hutch is from Trohv which sort of make me sounds like a broken record, hahah but they have such awesome stuff! It was actually in red and on sale when we bought it so we painted it Martha Stewart's chinchilla Grey ;.)

Thanks Tiffany & Cassie!!! Cassie you live in a Beautiful area ;.) I wish I could have met you a long time ago, because we are a few weeks shy of moving to California for a year....but keep visiting cuz I'm gonna keep blogging ;.) Thanks to ALL OF you new readers, much love to you!

Your a total inspiration!! Those yhl folks sure do know how to pick em!! Love what you did to the lil ones room!!! Too adorable for my eyes!! Cannot wait to see what more you have for us!! What's on the plates in the tablescape pic?? Thanks, Joanna D. www.perfectlyforeternity.blogspot.com

Hey Joanna! Welcome to the blog, you're too sweet! The things on the plate are little birds nest cookies, check em out here http://www.alittleglassbox.com/2011/04/building-easter-table.html;.) Thanks J&J I welcome you, we are crazy here, I hope you enjoy!

So happy to have found you guys via the YHL blog- you guys have wonderful taste! Honestly, what really drew me in was the coral dresser in y'alls room...I've been toying with painting the dresser in my hubs' and I room that color as well but had reservations about the color. Seeing it in action sealed the deal! Thank you!

Hi Rebecca! welcome to the blog! I LOVE shopping at Trohv and also at Avenue Antiques in Hampden. In fact all the little shops in Hampden are amazing. I also find a lot of good things at Ryan's relics & the Goodwill off of Belair road...there are also weekend flea markets in the same area. Happy hunting hon! ;.)

Dahnya I'm so glad you're going coral...we LOVE it! So fun to wake up to ;.) The gold bird was actually purchased at a local baltimore shop called In watermelon sugar (they still have them in the window by the way ;.) and I bought it in apple green, I sprayed it gold, yay for spray paint and so glad you liked it, cuz there was no going back hahah. Thanks again & welcome!

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I was just wondering, if you don't mind, telling me what it cost and the size of it. I live all the way in Texas and wanted to know so I can figure on the price + shipping to get it here. Thanks so much

Okay this is amazing and I Just found you on interest and I am on board. Love! I have wanted a rustic looking "butcher block" ish type dining room table for a long long time. My question: Tell me about keeping it clean? IE Kids getting food in the cracks, wiping it down, does spaghetti sauce ruin it? Do you use it for every day life?

Welcome Leanne! Yes we just LOVE our table & we use it everyday for everything. Yes food does spill & crumbs do fall all it takes is a vacuum at times and a little bit of water & a paper towel. Our kiddo isn't old enough to use it yet so that does help. So when he is we just plan on adding a slat of glass or plexiglas over the top. Really though the true beauty of this table for us is that it is so rustic & was so cheap to make that the wear & tear adds to the character & I'm never afraid to craft on it . I really hope this helps , let me know if u have any more questions. Thanks so much again!